I had wanted to write about Governor Seyi Makinde’s unguarded declaration that he would conduct a Local Government election by May, 2027 but a flurry of activities wouldn’t permit me to have a good time for that.
While I was still trying to figure out how I could get some time to address the issue, a torrent of more reckless and inflammatory statements came out from Governor Makinde during a recently held Media chat.
Fortunately, I have a bit of time to address both issues.
I will start with the issue of Local Government election.
The tenure of the current occupiers of the offices of Chairmen of Local Government Councils will expire by May 2027, same time as the eight years tenure of Governor Seyi Makinde which ends by May 29, 2027.
When I read Governor Makinde’s promise or was it a threat, that he would conduct a Local Government election by May of 2027, same month that both his own tenure and that of the current Council Bosses would expire, I wondered, from what sort of mind, such a statement emanated from.
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I also wondered why Governor Makinde would skip so many important and critical activities between now and May 2027 to start talking about the Local Government election.
Having listened to his Media chat and juxtaposing his comments alongside the threat to conduct a Local Government election by May of 2027, I came to the conclusion that Governor Makinde is seriously confused, frustrated and he needs not only help, he also needs attention.
Perhaps, a good rest will do him a lot of good.
I am surprised that he is this worked up, having just taken a month rest recently.
The Oyo state Independent Electoral Commission, OYSIEC Law has stated how a valid Local Government election could be conducted.
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I have carefully read that Law several times.
The 2027 general election would be conducted from around February of that year.
The OYSIEC Law mandates that a minimum of 90 days notice is required to be given to political parties by the Electoral umpire.
The 2027 general election would most likely run till March of that year.
Is it that Governor Makinde and OYSIEC are not aware of these facts or they would just decide to break the Law, their own Law to achieve a selfish end?
Are they going to give a 90 days notice to political parties in the midst of a general election and they would expect opposition political parties to consider them serious.
I know that Governor Makinde is terribly jittery as nemesis draws nearer by the day.
He has spent the last six years plus messing up with Local Government funds.
He needs to ensure that his ugly trails are covered regardless of the outcome of the Governorship election which I suppose he now knows that he has lost control over.
Sadly, circumstances are against him and he can not help it.
I can, to the glory of God Almighty predict what would happen to him in those final days of his Administration.
Perhaps, the Governor should try and get advice about how an outgoing Governor is been treated on their final days in office.
At that point, nobody listens to you again.
They see you as belonging to the past.
Unfortunately for Governor Makinde, I don’t think he would see anyone to advise him.
He has insulted and ‘ retired ‘ those who could have advised him.
He always say that he would retire a lot of politicians ” without benefits ‘.
Maybe, Seye Famojuro will still be with him to the end.
In the final analysis, I think Governor Makinde was perhaps hallucinating when he said he would conduct a Local Government election by May 2027.
He would not.
I do not underestimate his stubbornness.
He could blindly go ahead and stage a drama but the efforts would be wasted in the end.
Now, to the Media chat.
I was live on a Radio station in Ibadan on Christmas day.
We discussed the Governor’s Media chat and the presenter asked me about how we, in the APC viewed the purported statement credited to president Tinubu regarding the reorganisation of Oyo APC.
I told the reporter that Oyo APC couldn’t have been bothered by whatever statements coming out from an incoherent and confused mind.
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I referred to the claim by Governor Seyi Makinde that by the 90s, he already made a million in dollars and the only reason he adduced to back up the outrageous claim was that he got a contract worth a million dollars at the time.
I asked the presenter if Governor Makinde actually diverted the whole one million dollars meant for the contract to his private pocket.
What I forgot to tell the presenter is the fact that Governor Makinde is very famous for saying that if you would clothe others, people should examine the clothes you, yourself are wearing.
He said so when he was mocking Hon. Mulikat Adeola some years ago.
He said the former Leader of Nigeria’s House of Representatives couldn’t help herself to be victorious in a Senatorial contest but she claimed to have helped him to win his election as Governor.
So, when you look at the issue from that angle, you would want to ask Governor Makinde who claimed that president Tinubu offered him the opportunity to reorganize Oyo APC, how organized is his own party, the PDP today?
I told the presenter that Governor Makinde took a wise decision when he implied that the former Governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike was fighting dirty and that he wouldn’t engage him in a gutter duel but only God knows why he couldn’t keep the promise.
His Media chat indicated that he has taken the fight to the gutter, a terrain he claimed not to be familiar with.
Governor Makinde raised a lot of issues in the ill advised Media chat.
He said he is against a situation where Nigeria will drift towards a one party State.
He described what transpired at a purported meeting between the president, his Chief of staffs, himself, Wike and some unnamed individuals.
According to him, Wike promised that he would hold the PDP down for the president at that meeting and when they got out, he challenged Wike and told him that they never had an agreement to hold PDP down for President Tinubu.
Governor Makinde must have thought that he was addressing robots or a bunch of fools.
In the first place, what necessitated the meeting?
Secondly, we used to know of a G-5 that stayed within the PDP to work against Atiku.
Why was it that other members of the G-5 did not attend that particular meeting?
Who are the unnamed individuals that were also present at the meeting?
Why did Governor Makinde not take up Wike before president Tinubu and the others, why delay to register his displeasure till they got out of the meeting?
Did he eventually communicate his disagreements to the president or he kept quiet knowing fully well that silence meant consent?
For me, Governor Makinde is displaying and advertising hypocrisy by his accounts of the purported meeting.
When I heard the part where he said that he was not going to support Tinubu in 2027, I asked if Governor Makinde is truly aware of the complexity of his present predicaments.
In the first instance, I am not aware that the president is asking for his support in 2027 and he also did not say so.
Secondly, by the time he was wasting his breath, talking to the Camera, Wike was perfecting plans to set up a parallel PDP under his very nose in Oyo state.
As we speak, a Caretaker Committee of the PDP, loyal to his arch rival, Nyesom Wike has been announced for Oyo state.
Apart from that, the PDP is now left with just four Governors and only God knows the number of Governors that are moving out of the remaining four as I am writing this piece.
At this point, who needs whose support?
To make matters worse for Governor Makinde, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has said that it would not recognize the party officers produced from the Ibadan Convention of the PDP citing some court Judgments and unresolved issues between the factions as reasons for its decision.
So, what does Governor Makinde have that will attract Tinubu’s interest in him?
I listened to the interview of Egbon Diran Odeyemi, former PDP National assistant PRO, where he alleged that Governor Makinde has changed and has become so arrogant.
He talked about how Governor Makinde has ditched everyone who helped him in the past and treated them like a piece of rags.
I agree with him.
I also read the interview of Dr. Adedeji Doherty, a former Chairman of the PDP in Lagos state where he also raised very serious allegations against Governor Seyi Makinde.
He said Governor Makinde became so highhanded to the extent that he would threaten people with Court cases and imprisonment if they failed to comply with his directives on party matters.
He disclosed that he is battling with several Court cases presently.
Further to the above, I also read the statements credited to a former Law maker, Farouk Aliyu.
He said that ego battles, lingering rivalries and factional divisions are eroding PDP’s strength and that Governor Seyi Makinde is trying to redeem his image, having helped to damage the PDP in the past.
I totally agree with Farouk Aliyu.
Governor Makinde is a serial betrayer.
Unfortunately for him, he failed to understand that not everyone would take acts of betrayals lightly.
Starting with those who assisted him to take control of the PDP structures in 2019, his erstwhile Deputy Governor, the coalition partners and now Nyesom Wike, Governor Makinde has betrayed them all.
From his past actions and the testaments we are daily been bombarded with, Governor Seyi Makinde is a ruthless dictator and a pretender.
Thank God that he is now being unbundled daily and people are getting to see him for who he truly is.
Before the 2023 general election, he kept following Nyesom Wike around as they tracked and followed Tinubu all over the Globe.
As a result of persistent horse trading, he was awarded a second term in office.
Nyesom Wike was pivotal to the arrangements that got him a second term in office.
Immediately after the election, he turned Aso Rock to his second home and when some of us accused him of neglecting his primary assignments, he said he would keep going to the Villa to ensure that he collected every dividends belonging to Oyo state.
Now we know that the dividend he was talking about actually had nothing to do with the interests of Oyo state.
It was the pursuit of a Ministerial slot.
When he failed to achieve that, he forgot whatever personal benefits he has gotten from the president and he started abusing the president up and down.
When he was taking on the president and his policies, he never told the public that his anger was borne out of the frustrations and disappointment of failing to get a Minister, he pretended as if he was on the side of the common man.
Thankfully, his Media chat has exposed his hypocrisy.
I am loving this gutter fight and I can predict how it’s going to end.
It’s a one way route to utter destruction for the accidental champion of the masses and serial betrayer.
Meanwhile, I have grabbed my popcorn, while eagerly waiting for the counter attack.
Sola Abegunde.
